Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:40 am Posts: 2884 Location: Detroit, MI
Re: Bass vs NS Stick vs Touchguitar
MichNS wrote:
If you get an NS, I also recommend buying Muriel Anderson's "50 RH Techniques You Must Know" DVD. Learning fingerpicking/classical guitar instruction works wonders on an NS. Steve Osborn, one of his former instructors, and several guitar seminars I've taken at Interlochen has me picking the NS more like a guitar player than what I did previously from bass. Even though the left hand will not always work the same way as a guitar player because of the neck width and scale length, the RH techniques help with developing some finess with fingerpicking and picking an NS.
But only $19 for a digital download, which is what I chose instead. The DVD/tutorial looks like a great reference, and I can't wait to get started on it when I get home from work and can download this thing I just bought.
Quote:
Muriel Anderson’s 50 Right-Hand Techniques You MUST Know is the first and only resource of its kind, and it’s especially relevant today as musical styles converge to create fresh, exciting and interesting accompaniments, solos and compositions.
About the Guitar Lesson 50 Right-Hand Techniques covers ALL of the essential right-hand techniques: Tone & Motion of Right Hand, Motion of the Thumb, Shaping Fingernails & Picks, Free Stroke, Rest Stroke, Twist & Slice, Flamenco Picado, Planting, Staccato, Arpeggio 4/4 Time, Lullaby Pattern in 3/4 & 4/4, Arpeggio Exercises, Thumb-index Roll, Bouncing the Arm, Fingerpicking Patterns, Alternating Bass with Melody, Scarborough Fair Pattern, Bluegrass Banjo Technique, Chet Atkins Muffled Bass, Merle Travis Bass, Leo Kottke Bass, Easy Strumming Concept, Calypso, Rumba Slap, Golpe, Muted Chord, Ghost Notes, Jazz Picking Technique, Flat-picking Technique, Bluegrass Backup, Bluegrass Backup Variations, Jazz Hybrid Pick-finger, Index-thumb Picking, Chicken Pickin’, Samba Basic, Thumb Up & Down Stroke, Rasquado, Continuous Roll, Tremolo Variations, Back of Nail Koto, Feathering Strings, Frailing, Harmonics Overview, Stretching Technique and you even get exercises to help your right hand stay relaxed.
I've got a lot of work ahead of me and I can't wait to dig in on it. This looks like an excellent, excellent resource, Steve--thanks again!
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 4:39 am Posts: 1342 Location: Northern Lower Peninsula, Michigan
Re: Bass vs NS Stick vs Touchguitar
Don't forget to get a pick. The NS takes hybrid picking to the next level by adding tapping/hammer-ons. Pick, pluck, AND tap with LH or the right if you wish.
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:40 am Posts: 2884 Location: Detroit, MI
Re: Bass vs NS Stick vs Touchguitar
MichNS wrote:
Don't forget to get a pick. The NS takes hybrid picking to the next level by adding tapping/hammer-ons. Pick, pluck, AND tap with LH or the right if you wish.
Normally, I'm not a big fan of the pick, which was a big reason I first liked Sticks. Then as a newbie bass player, the cool kids don't like picks and I have to admit that I prefer my fingers as a pick even when I play acoustic guitar, and especially on "real" bass.
But the NS Stick has the best (or worst) of both the bass, guitar, and also the Stick worlds. So now I can pick if I want or not if I don't, but the NS/ Stick will allow me to pick, pluck, AND tap, as you said.
Outside of range, I'm struggling to see why the NS Stick is not the more popular choice for people starting out, particularly for bassists. You really just gain four higher strings--2 higher strings if you have a 6-string bass already. There's no inverse strings or fifths tuning to get used to. You can still use all the same techniques you use on a regular bass, plus tapping.
I'd think that an awesome guitarist, for example, would be able to pick up the NS/Stick and just go to town right off the bat. Yeah, some of your bigger chords will be messed up by having the highest strings be straight fourths instead of guitar tuning (and you can tune your NS in guitar tuning for that matter!), and the NS allows you to do some tapping that a "regular" guitarist doesn't normally do, but I'd think more guitar and bass players would be playing NS Stick than the "regular" Sticks.
After struggling to find good Stick performance videos on the Internet, I'm finding the struggle to find NS/Stick stuff is even harder. So far, I've found: Don Schiff, Dean Kobayashi, and Russel Keating, then add Dr. Froth, and my personal new favorite, is the awesome Curtis Heard Jr., who has a bunch of melodic originals using the NS/Stick. But not very much else out there for the NS! Please correct me if I'm wrong!
But back to the pick: yeah, I've embraced the much larger learning curve I will have with the NS versus Sticks, because I'm actually used to the inverse fifths tuning. The "normal" way of lower strings on the bottom and going up in fourths (or guitar tuning) is actually less familiar to me than the Stick way. But that's okay--I'm a fast learner and I can play guitar. Plus the Sticks have the fourth tuning in the melody side--I just need to extend it down to the bass side as well on the NS.
I'll get it, I know I will. I feel like working really hard on this, and I'll have the benefit of a vast world of bass knowledge and help to draw on.
I'm seriously considering lessons with the NS. I have some basic picking skills that I need work on and knowing myself, I won't work on my picking because I'd rather just rock it out. But I do think it is worth the time and attention to take picking seriously and not just avoid it all together.
Lots to think about and learn and research. What a strange trip this journey to Stickland has been! I'm excited to expand my Sticking over to the NS/Stick. I really think I'm going to like it.
So far, I've found: Don Schiff, Dean Kobayashi, and Russel Keating, then add Dr. Froth, and my personal new favorite, is the awesome Curtis Heard Jr., who has a bunch of melodic originals using the NS/Stick. But not very much else out there for the NS! Please correct me if I'm wrong!
A few years ago Piotr Gucia recorded very good album with his band Bel Air. He played mainly on NS (bit P-Bass). Highly recommended.
_________________ 10-String 5↓4↑ Internally C Matched Padouk Stick #351 with XXL GK & Stickup 12-String 5↓4↑ Internally C Matched XG Grand Stick #5428 with dual GK & Custom Pickups 10-String 5↓4↑ Internally A Matched Tarara Alto Stick #5689 with GK & Stickup
Thu Dec 08, 2016 12:07 pm
paigan0
Multiple Donor
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:40 am Posts: 2884 Location: Detroit, MI
Re: Bass vs NS Stick vs Touchguitar
Those were great videos. I enjoyed all three of those songs. The first one was a little too frenetic and atonal for me but then the melodies and riffs kicked in. The next two were even better and the last one the best. Really good sound on the NS. Thanks for that!
The big question to me as a piano player was self-accompaniment. Can I play two-handed tapping and get a bass guitar and a guitar-guitar sound, like a 10 or 12-string Stick?
Watching Steve Balogh rock out Beatles on his and watching this guy, have convinced me. (I admit he's using a looper, too, but still with the full bass and guitar parts.)
Just My Imagination on the NS/Stick by Burnis Heard Jr
Even better! Roadtrip on the NS/Stick by Burnis Heard Jr.
I have never played (or seen in person) a Touch Guitar, but I do have a 10 string Stick, NS Stick (Graphite neck), and various other basses. I've been playing bass for nearly 40 years, 5 & 6 string basses for 30 years. When I received my NS in 2006, I used it on a Bass gig 2 days after I got it. So coming from a 5 or 6 string bass, the transition was pretty easy since the tuning on the bottom 5 strings is the same as a 5 string bass. I do have to play with a much lighter touch than a standard bass however. For the last 10 years I have been using the NS as a standard bass. Clean crisp low end, easy on the back. Curiously, I have never used it for tapping until very recently. You can slap with it, but because the strings are lighter you may need to adjust the intensity. I always bring 2 instruments to a gig, but I often use the NS all night.
My other bass instruments are: Modulus Quantum 6, (6 string, 35" scale) MV Pedulla MVP5 (5 string, 34" scale) Kiesel Vader VB5 (5 string headless, 30" scale)
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